A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.

On Friday, over a hundred people watched on as 10 devotees were nailed to wooden crosses, among them Ruben Enaje, a 63-year-old carpenter and sign painter. The real-life crucifixions have become an annual religious spectacle that draws tourists in three rural communities in Pampanga province, north of Manila.

The gory ritual resumed last year after a three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has turned Enaje into a village celebrity for his role as the “Christ” in the Lenten reenactment of the Way of the Cross.

Ahead of the crucifixions, Enaje told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday night that he has considered ending his annual religious penitence due to his age, but said he could not turn down requests from villagers for him to pray for sick relatives and all other kinds of maladies.

  • Twinklebreeze @lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Maybe I’m alone, but this seems fine to me. I think evangelicals should take a page out of his book. Spend less time being horrible, and crucify themselves instead.

    • otp@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      As much as I don’t condone needless violence, even against oneself…

      You have a great point. They should be putting their money where their mouths are.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.zip
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      6 months ago

      This is definitely closer to the spirit of the Christian religion than most other extreme manifestations.

      Dunno why I remembered Frisians bricking people alive into dams in the Middle Ages.

  • poo@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Really sad people are hurting themselves over nothing.

  • kromem@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    To everyone saying “it isn’t working” - you’re reading an article spreading the message of a Filipino villager in US media.

    It’s not like that happens all that often.

    So yes, it is working pretty well actually.

    Not my choice for PR stunt, but to each their own.

    • pop@lemmy.ml
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      6 months ago

      What are you even talking about? His name on US media is all it takes for “world peace”? In what fucking sense of the word? What part is working?

      the part where he did something stupid for attention? sure… okay… we totally needed that

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      We really need more people to learn the difference between good attention and bad attention. That is how we get morons blocking ambulances in London, throwing food at paintings, and people getting crucified.

      Be the change you want to see in the world doesn’t mean do performative stunts for likes, clicks, and views. It means you do the hard work of fixing issues.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      How else would he want to be remembered?

      Feeding the poor?

      Loving the different?

      Starting a damn riot because someone charged interest on a loan?

      Surely his favorite part of life was being tortured to death for those messages, so let’s all wear a tiny gold version of what killed him and forgot all that commie crap he constantly talked about

      /s

      • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        Jesus didn’t talk about using force or the threat of force to confiscate other people’s wealth and give it away.

          • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            It’s always amusing when people who are against religion pretend to be experts.

            He litterly tells them after dumping out their money “Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house a house of merchandise.”

            Jesus didn’t take their money, he told them to take their shit and leave.

            • Zip2@feddit.uk
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              6 months ago

              As opposed to all the Christian denominations, sects, cults who can’t even agree on what the facts were, or which of the books, letters etc are to be included in their “correct” version on the bible.

              • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
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                6 months ago

                What does any of that have to do with claiming the cleansing the temple parable shows Jesus promoting communism.

            • Clent@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              It’s more amusing to see how ignorant the religious are of their religion. Especial monotheists. You’ve only got the one god and you still can’t keep the rules straight.

          • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
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            6 months ago

            Do you? I’ve never heard of read a bible verse about Jesus instructing his followers to seize the means of production.

            • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Damn, its almost like Communism was invented AFTER Jesus supposed time

              But even then, seizing the means would be more Socialism than Communism. Marx wrote as much, too, that Socialism is the stepping stone away from Capitalism and towards Communism

              • jimbolauski@lemm.ee
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                6 months ago

                Damn, its almost like Communism was invented AFTER Jesus supposed time

                Thanks for providing more evidence Jesus didn’t espouse communists ideas.

                But even then, seizing the means would be more Socialism than Communism. Marx wrote as much, too, that Socialism is the stepping stone away from Capitalism and towards Communism

                Here is the 4th plank of the communists party, as written by your buddy Karl in the communists manifesto. You should probably read the man’s works before you make claims about what he said

                Fourth Plank: CONFISCATION OF THE PROPERTY OF ALL EMIGRANTS AND REBELS. (The confiscation of property and persecution of those critical - “rebels” - of government policies and actions, frequently accomplished by prosecuting them in a courtroom drama on charges of violations of non-existing administrative or regulatory laws.)

                • CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world
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                  6 months ago

                  Me thinks you dont know what property is in this context.

                  Communism deprives no man of the power to appropriate the products of society; all that it does is to deprive him of the power to subjugate the labour of others by means of such appropriations.

                  Private property in the Manifesto doesnt mean theyre gonna take your toothbrush, ffs

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      6 months ago

      “Fucking hell lads, I gave you the bread and wine thing. There’s no need for this!”

    • kromem@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Well after he’s dead they start throwing around the line about needing to “carry the cross as I do.”

      So people who believe that was accurately attributed certainly might think that’s what he wanted.

  • Noodle07@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    It’s not working too well but maybe we should just try to crucify rich people

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Yeah, but this guy doesn’t have a magical world peace wand so he’s doing this as a form of protest instead. Same principle as a hunger strike, or chaining yourself to a fence.

  • tygerprints@kbin.social
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    6 months ago

    What a sick idea that we should celebrate a human being nailed to a cross, yuck. Another example of how religious beliefs are grotesque in the extreme and I’d rather believe in humanity instead of some supernatural shit like this.

    There was no such person as Jesus and there never has been and there never as any such thing as “god” either. Stop being ignorant blind fools, people. Leave your shackles of religious nut-jobbery behind, go out and enjoy life and have some fun. Turn this “good Friday” into a GREAT Friday.